


Ashes to Ashes

by aries_taurus



Category: Avengers infinity war - Fandom, Hawaii Five-0 (2010), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Despair, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Post-Apocalypse, Sad Ending, Spoilers, Survivor Guilt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-02
Updated: 2018-05-02
Packaged: 2019-05-01 10:06:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14518131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aries_taurus/pseuds/aries_taurus
Summary: It’s in the back of Steve’s mind, that there’s something going on with aliens again but it’s what, the third, fourth, fifth time now? So far, the Avengers have always taken care of business and O'ahu’s always far enough out of the way to avoid the chaos.H50 story, set in the Avengers Infinity Wars 'verse. SPOILERS FOR INFINITY WARS**SPOILERS AND WARNINGS, PLEASE HEED THE WARNINGS**





	Ashes to Ashes

**Author's Note:**

> *SPOILERS FOR INFINITY WARS, DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED, DON'T COMPLAIN IF YOU DECIDE TO READ AND GET SPOILED*
> 
> SAME WARNING APPLIES FOR MAJOR CHARACTER DEATHS. MULTIPLE WARNINGS. THIS IS NOT A HAPPY STORY. I MADE MYSELF CRY WRITING IT. KAY?
> 
> No beta. It's rough, but I need it out there, so I can work through my Infinity Wars feelings....

They’re in the middle of a case. Of course, they’ve seen the news, the ship In New York, the one in Europe, the ones in Africa.  They know Tony Stark’s missing, presumed dead (again).  

It’s in the back of Steve’s mind, that there’s something going on with aliens again but it’s what, the third, fourth, fifth time now? So far, the Avengers have always taken care of business and O'ahu’s always far enough out of the way to avoid the chaos.

There are a few inhumans he’s aware of, Registration act and all, but so far, all’s quiet so they stay focused on the case, keeping an eye on the news.

They’re in the middle of a raid when the shooting suddenly stops and the air fills with ash.

Steve looks up, scans the area, hairs on the back of his neck standing on end at the sudden, eerie calm. He checks his comms, but the air’s dead.

He can hear crashing metal from the nearby streets, horns, but around him, it’s too quiet all of a sudden.

“Steve,” Danny calls out, his voice choked up, filled with fear. Steve turns and he can only watch in horror as Danny turns to dust before his eyes. “Take care of my kids,” Danny whispers, just before he fades into the wind.

“Danny!” he shouts, blinking furiously, spinning in a tight circle, because this can’t be real. He has to be stuck in Wo Fat’s drugged up world again because this can’t be happening. Every living being he can see around him is disintegrating into a cloud of ash, disappearing, vanishing into dust, dissolving into the wind.

“Lou! Tanni!,” he shouts into his comm, “Junior! Report!”  

There’s only silence.

He looks everywhere, frantic, searching, but all he can see are plumes of ash, all around him. No.

NO! This can’t be happening. This can’t be real!

After a long fifteen minutes of utter chaos, there is nothing but silence.

And the silence fills with screams.

-*-*-

He knows he’s not alone on the island. His radio’s burst with other frantic calls, a few HPD officers desperately calling out, asking if there’s anyone out there, if they’re alone.

He did manage to respond, to say he was one of the few left, but as far as he’s heard, the rest of Five-0’s gone.  

If what little he’s hearing over the comms is true… half of humanity has just vanished, turned to ash, gone in minutes.

Like Danny.

Danny. Danny is just… gone.

Danny. The kids!

He shakes himself and grabs his phone, calls Grace’s cell, heart in his throat.

His heart pounds harder and harder with each ring. When it rings through all the way to voicemail, he hangs up and tries again.

And again. And again.

By the fourth try, big, fat tears are rolling down his cheeks.

He stops trying after eleven.

He tries Rachel fifteen times, both on her cell and her hard line.  

After the screams, the silence returns. There’s no one there to hear his grief.

He doesn’t know how long he’s been sitting on the pavement, tears of overwhelming sorrow and loss streaming down his face, throat hoarse from his own screams of grief he couldn’t contain. It doesn’t matter. There’s no one to witness it.

No one at all.

No one he cares about, anyway.

A last shred of hope makes him check his cell again but the network is down, probably from every person like him, trying to find someone, anyone left they care about.

It’s only been hours and the island is already falling apart. Which means he can't afford to.

He swallows, wipes the tears off his face. He breathes deep and tries to find his reserves, that deep, deep well of training, where he can lock away his heart and put a mission ahead of anything else. And do what’s needed, because right now, he needs to push past this insurmountable mountain of grief, somehow, and he has to be Commander McGarrett again. He has to move.

He has to go back to the Palace, to the ruins of what’s left.  

Chaos will take over the streets, he knows. It’s always what happens in the wake of catastrophe. He needs to find out exactly who and what’s still here, and how to secure the city, the state, even.

He’s one of the few left.

He’s alive, while everyone he loves is gone.

All he’s got left is this Island, so he’ll protect his land.

There’s nothing else left to do.

-*-*-

He doesn’t know how long he’s been awake, how long since it happened.

Honolulu is barely secure, but there’s not enough people left to really pose a threat anyway.

He’s tired.

A part of him thinks that’s a blessing. That way, he doesn’t have the energy to grieve or think about his own losses.

But maybe he’s getting to the point where he needs to rest because he’s starting to hear voices.

‘Uncle Steve!’

He shakes his head, squeezing his eyes shut and rubbing both hands over his face. It’s as if Grace is right next door, calling to him.

He exhales and

“UNCLE STEVE! YOU’RE OKAY!”

The door to his office bangs open and he lifts his head up. He’s on his feet and Grace is wrapped up in his arm, holding him tight before he’s even aware of moving.

“Grace,” he whispers. “Grace, you’re alive… How did you… where…”

“I found you! You’re here! We were on a school trip on the North Shore and the bus crashed and… All those people turned to dust and my phone wouldn’t work and, and, and” Grace cries into his shirt. Her head snaps up and her eyes lock onto his and he knows before she asks.

“Danno…”

He can’t help the tears that flood his eyes when he has to shake his head. “I’m sorry.”

“I went home and Charlie and mom… There’s just piles of dust in his room…” Grace sobs, burying her face into his chest again.

They stay in each other’s arms for a long, long time, not saying a word, just crying, trying to draw some comfort from each other. Steve knows he’d be lying if he said things were going to be all right, knows Grace is old enough to know it too.

When the pull apart, he wipes a stray tear from her cheek. “I promised your dad I’d take care of you. And I will.”

“I know.”

“S'not gonna be easy, Grace, what’s coming.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“You’re tough, like your dad was, but… it’s gonna be hard, and I’m gonna have to teach you some things… to keep you safe, okay? But I promise you, I will be there for you, till my last breath. I swear I will.”

“I know. I love you Uncle Steve, and I know I’ll be safe with you.”

“I love you too, sweetie.”

“So I guess you need to teach me how to shoot a gun before you teach me how to drive now, huh?”

The seriousness in Grace’s tone tells him she understands the situation and it breaks his heart all the more. He wants Danny to be here, to hear this conversation, so he can laugh at his partner’s face when he hears Steve and Grace talking about learning to shoot guns. He wants this to be a nightmare, a cosmic joke or a hallucination so fucking badly it hurts.

“Yeah, I do,” he says, doesn’t say 'your dad would freak out if he could hear this’ because it’s too soon, it hurts too much and she may not know it but Grace will learn to shoot with her father’s H&K because it’s resting in Steve’s drawer, couldn’t leave it behind.

The sun starts to set on O'ahu, on both of them and for the first time in his life, Steve doesn’t know how he’ll survive tomorrow. Only that he has to. For Grace.  

Fin


End file.
